As for Thanksgiving, my sister and I alternate whose house we have it in, and this year it's at my house! My mom, my sister and I always do plenty of cooking no matter where it is though it's really just a matter of who makes the turkey and this year it's me. I love making Thanksgiving. There's just something special about watching the parade while turkey roasts in the oven.
As a special treat, we always have a decadent breakfast on Thanksgiving morning. Normally we have very healthy breakfasts in our house, but on Thanksgiving we indulge more. I used to make the Pillsbury cinnamon rolls. Last year I found the recipe for the old Main Street Bakery cinnamon rolls at the Magic Kingdom and I made them. They were so divine that I made them again on Christmas! I'm doing it again for this Thanksgiving breakfast. I prepare the dough in the bread machine the evening before, on the dough cycle. It makes it so much easier. Then when it's time, I roll it out and fill it with the delicious sugar cinnamon filling, roll it up and cut it, and I give them their final rise. Then I store them in a tin covered tightly with Saran Wrap in the fridge overnight. I get up nice and early, bake the cinnamon rolls and the delicious smell wafts all throughout the house! DH, the boys and I all really love them. Well worth the work, but as I said the bread machine's dough cycle is just a beautiful thing that makes it a lot less work than it could be.
We are having two Thanksgivings. I'm making it again on Sunday because my nieces are with their father (my sister's ex-husband) this year on the actual holiday. So my sister, brother-in-law, my nephew and my parents are all coming to us on Thursday. The girls go back to my sister on Friday and the five of them are going upstate NY to my brother-in-law's parents' house to have Thanksgiving with them and stay overnight. They come back Saturday. We have "Thanksgiving Re-mix" at my house on Sunday, with everyone and also my aunt and my cousin are joining us.
Oh, to add another Disney recipe...I'm making ooey gooey toffee cake on Thanksgiving day! I'm gonna make it so it's warm when we eat dessert. My sister is bringing vanilla gelato and it will pair nicely! I'm also making homemade whipped cream to go with the pies we have...pecan pie, pumpkin pie made with Bailey's, and an apple pear cranberry crumble.
Hanukkah is next, in mid-December this year. Much better than last year when it was the night before thanksgiving! My mom is making it at her house, and it will be a lot of fun as always, with plenty of delicious potato latkes made the same way my grandfather made them! We all make them the same and we are very picky when it comes to latkes. Fresh out of the pan is the only way to go!
Then for Christmas, we go out to an Italian restaurant for Christmas Eve. We are Jewish, but we still love the feel of Christmas, plus my brother-in-law is catholic and we celebrate it with him. But they're going to be upstate at his sister's house this year for it, so they won't be with us at the Italian restaurant this time. Every Christmas Day we go to a close family friend. They come to us on Hanukkah and we go to them on Christmas. We share each other's holidays and it's so much fun. This time, our friend who is a nurse has to work on Christmas Day but she is off Saturday the 27th so we are going to her house then. This worked out well because my sister and brother-in-law will be home on December 26th from upstate and we will all be together for our Christmas with close friends.
New Year's Eve is at my sister's this year. We also alternate whose house that is in, and it's her turn this year. That is a very important day in our family as it is my nephew's birthday and he is turning a year old this New Year's Eve! That's right, last year my sister had a beautiful baby boy on New Year's Eve day! I can't believe he's almost 1 already, we have so much fun with him!
That's what's going on here. I love the holidays, even with all the work and chaos. Thanksgiving is my absolute favorite though so this week is terrific!
)
